Misinformation may have doomed Milledgeville-Baldwin County union

MILLEDGEVILLE -- Residents here say a fear of losing jobs, having less government representation and paying more taxes caused them to shoot down a referendum that would have merged the governments of the city and Baldwin County.

Nearly 69 percent of voters rejected the proposal, and voter turnout was relatively high at 41 percent.

"Every person I talked to said it would put people out of their jobs," said Marcus Havir, 32, owner of Spit Shine Mobile Detailing. "I know people who work for the city who say they'd be afraid of losing their job."

Dax Bolston, 42, who owns the Hair Hospital on North Columbia Street, said he initially opposed the merger for that very reason, but then he spoke to a consolidation supporter -- state Rep. Rusty Kidd, I-Milledgeville -- and changed his mind.

"If losing jobs would happen with consolidation, I personally wouldn't be for it," Bolston said. "But after reading the charter, I saw that it says nobody would lose a job."

The proposed charter specifically says no full-time employees of Milledgeville or Baldwin County would lose their employment or have reduced pay if voters approved the measure.

"If every person reads it and if what is written is true, I think people would be for it," Bolston said.

Less representation also was a concern as the plan would have erased current city and county political districts and set up new districts for a five-member county commission. The mayor and vice mayor would be elected at-large.

"It would take away from the Milledgeville community and puts power into the hands of less people," Havir said.

Having a smaller number of elected local officials within the black community made some residents worry their voices would have been lost in the redistricting if the merger had passed voter scrutiny. Currently, three members of the Milledgeville City Council are black, and one of the five Baldwin County commissioners is black.

"I've heard those who have done the research say it's like bringing back the old Jim Crow laws," said James Brinco, 62, who works in credit card sales. "I'm concerned about giving one portion of the city too much power."

The proposed five voting districts for a consolidated government were drawn by the state Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office.

"This was done according to federal law, state law and the Voting Rights Act of 1965," Kidd said.

Voters who supported the proposal say the public was not well informed.

Carol Brookins, 70, a retired office administrator, said she voted in favor of the merger even though most people she spoke to opposed it. She said she wouldn't want a reintroduction of the merger issue to cause strife within the community but thinks most voters didn't know all the details of the proposal.

"I think people weren't really aware of how it could benefit them," Brookins said. "Maybe if people had more time and there had been more information out there, it would have passed."

Merger supporters say misinformation and fear led to the merger being rejected.

"A lot of people were being told over and over again that it's going to raise taxes, raise taxes, raise taxes," Kidd said. "I had some people call me in the last week saying they were opposed to it if it was going to raise taxes. I said, 'Look, I own 101 acres in this county and my house, and I own five places in the city. You think I'm going to support something that's going to raise my taxes on 101 acres?'"

Cliff Wilkinson Jr., a professor of political science at Georgia College, said political changes such as consolidation are complex and sometimes difficult for voters to fully understand. Often, he said, such issues take more than one time on the ballot to pass.

"To get an issue like this passed, you need to get grassroots support and you need the rank and file," Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson said that because Georgia has 159 counties -- second only to Texas, which has 254 -- there are many redundancies in government that can be streamlined through mergers. He said the size of Macon and Bibb County presented a challenge for those two governments merging. The Macon-Bibb County consolidation went into effect in January 2014.

"It really seems that consolidation would be really beneficial for a more rural setting like Milledgeville-Balwin County in terms of the economy of scale," Wilkinson said. "For a lot of local governments, it makes very good sense ... to consolidate their efforts and save real money."

Kidd said he will continue to push for consolidation, but some opponents say they won't change their minds.

"They shouldn't bring it back if people didn't vote for it," Brisco said. "It was voted on, the people's choice. Majority rules."

This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 6:45 PM with the headline "Misinformation may have doomed Milledgeville-Baldwin County union ."